Let the ‘rithm hit ‘em…

Algorithm and design are occasionally strange bedfellows.

The discussion of design as a discipline and endeavor unto itself is an important one. And, as has always been the case, beautiful and surprising results often emerge when this discipline partners with available technology. This summer, I read an interview with Jeff Kipnis in the AA’s DRL Ten where he vehemently states that architecture is not science or research, it is design. I think this is a critical distinction that needs to be discussed, insofar as the role of technology and advanced computational techniques are involved. The architect, in my opinion, should not relinquish his design to a script or algorithm. Mastery of the sundry tools available to today’s practitioner should allow a fluid an coherent design across all of these media, and the intervening hand of the architect should be felt, if not readily apparent, in the output. In schools such as the AA, Pratt, SCI-Arc and others, this idea is finding a place. Exploration of the architects role in design in this changed technological arena is vital.